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Optimizing Video Content For Social Media

Mike Michalowicz

CEO, Provendus Group

I am the author of Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Maximizing your web footprint was easy before social media. People went to blogs, news sites and websites for content, especially video content. The search engines had it easy. Then social media exploded and suddenly “content” meant Twitter updates, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, comments and message boards where people were engaging more and more, leaving the traditional watering holes of quality content behind. Now it’s not enough to capture a search engine’s attention; you’ve got to catch people’s attention too, with quality content and clicky headlines. A search engine may like the more accurate search term, “Copulating arachnids,” but you’re more likely to have people clicking, watching and commenting on your video if you write “Watch Brazilian spiders have sex!” Social content is now more than just conversations with friends—it’s word of mouth conversations about products, services and experiences. It’s referrals and social proof of quality. In other words, social media content is golden, word-of-mouth advertising that you should be optimizing.

How people search for quality content, and how search engines rank content, especially video content, changes constantly. In the good old days (two years ago) all you had to do to bump your content (good or bad) to the top of the search pile was know how to use key words well. But now search engines are not only looking for keywords, they’re looking for endorsement of your video content by real people who are sharing it and talking about it on social media sites.

The absolute worst thing you can do as a small-business owner is to produce boring content because it kills you in the search engines and on social media sites. If you can’t produce quality content, then find and hire writers who can. Post videos and video scripts that produce high quality, fascinating, remarkable and compelling content, and then share it—by tweeting about it, sharing it on Facebook and sharing it with every social media site you know. The initial expense for quality content is the best investment you can make and it’s the fastest way to get people talking you up to the top of the search results.